La Plata, MD – It’s been a long two weeks in the first-degree murder trial of Caroline Marie Conway, 53 of Waldorf, and it’s not over yet.
Sitting Charles County Circuit Court Judge Steven I. Platt dismissed the jury from their deliberations around 9:15 p.m. Friday, Dec. 16 after closing arguments, which were as dramatic as they were interesting.
Charles County Assistant State’s Attorney Francis Granados said that the case “started out with a threat and the defendant made good on that threat.”
Granados said that Conway and her son, former Prince George’s County police officer Richard Conway, basically planned a premeditated crime together.
She used Richard’s service weapon in the May 20, 2015 shooting of Krystal and Robert Manges at the Rock ‘N’ Roll McDonald’s in broad daylight.
The prosecutor also focused on a 22-caliber rifle found in the trunk of the burgundy Chevrolet Impala driven by the former officer the day of the shooting. Granados asserted that the rifle was intended to be the murder weapon.
“Caroline did not intend to shoot them in the parking lot of the McDonald’s,” he explained. “They were supposed to go somewhere else and Richard was going to use that rifle. That plan went awry when Robert [Manges] grabbed the gun.”
Granados pointed out that the former officer had asked a superior officer just two months prior to the shooting whether or not he would need to register a .22 and was told he would not.
Investigators found the rifle in the truck of the Impala the night of the shooting loaded with 18 rounds of ammunition. They also found an ammunition tray in Conway’s Dodge Durango missing exactly 18 bullets.
Defense Attorney James Farmer Jr. hammered away at an acquaintance of the Manges, one Montana Christensen, who served in the Navy with the victim aboard the U.S.S. Bush in Norfolk. Farmer outlined how despite contrary statements by Krystal Manges, Farmer produced text messages between the two which seemed to indicate that the sailor was living with the couple. He explained that “Tanna” allegedly sexually abused the defendant’s 4-year-old grandson while living with his mother and the victim.
The Conways received a telephone call from the Virginia Department of Social Services two hours before the shooting telling them an investigation into sexual abuse allegations regarding their grandson had been dismissed for lack of evidence. The defense asserted that was the triggering event which caused Caroline Conway, who was sexually abused and raped at about the same age, to “snap” before carrying out the shooting. He alleged that Richard, her son, was unaware of what his mother had done.
Charles County States Attorney Tony Covington threw a monkey wrench into that argument when he played a video for the jury showing a burgundy Impala Richard Conway was driving around the St. Charles Mall during the time of the shooting.
That little piece of evidence, unseen by the jury up until that time, brought Farmer shrieking to his feet in protest, but by the time the judge finally relented and sustained the objection, the jury had seen it and registered it and the damage was done.
The jury got the case for deliberation around 5:30 p.m. Friday and returned to the courtroom asking for permission to hear the interview with the grandson and the therapist and to see surveillance video from the McDonald’s parking lot.
Platt dismissed the jury around 9:15 that evening, informing them that Judge Eric Nice will receive the verdict when they reach their decision Monday. His time in Charles County Circuit Court was slated for two weeks and that time period expired Friday night without a verdict.
Contact Joseph Norris at joe.norris@thebaynet.com